Snapchat offers exciting opportunities to interact with consumers

Cecilia Brown

Our guest post on Snapchat was authored by our associate Cecilia Brown. Cecilia is a graduate of the University of South Carolina-Columbia and holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Journalism and Mass Communications. We are privileged to work with Cecilia as a member of our social media team.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat, an instant messaging social media platform which debuted in September 2011, is an innovative and creative communication application. The three co-founders of the application, Evan Spiegel, Robert “Bobby” Murphy, and Frank Reginald “Reggie” Brown IV met at Stanford University around 2010. They worked on a messaging app called “Picaboo”. This app was targeted towards females who wanted to send instant photo messages that would disappear after the recipient opened the message. The name Picaboo was already in use by a photo publishing and printing company, so they renamed their photo messaging app Snapchat.

Snapchat is very user friendly, once you download the application on your smartphone, you create a Snapchat account and add friends by either their username, snapcode or phone number. The app is used to take and share photos and videos that you can send to friends. Photos can last 1-10 seconds on the viewers’ phones and Snapchat has recently extended the time of videos so that you can take multiple 10 second videos in a row that will send as a series. Also, a cool new feature you can add to videos is looping them so that they play over and over until someone clicks off the Snapchat you sent. You can also upload these timed photos and videos to your Snapchat story that stays live for 24 hours on the app for all of your friends to see. On Snapchat, you can apply funny filters, emojis, text, drawings and more to your photos and videos. Snapchat is much more than simply sharing photos, it’s a social media communication platform that has grown exponentially since 2010. To learn more about SnapChat visit their YouTube channel for informative videos.

Everyday Snapchat is used by so many people around the world to send messages, photos and videos. According to Snapchat, there are 166 million average daily active Snapchatters globally and they open their app an average of 18 times each day. Primarily a youthful cohort, these daily active users spend an average of 30 minutes per day on the app and 60% of them create with the Snapchat camera everyday.

Advertising opportunities on Snapchat?

Beyond being a communication tool, Snapchat also provides advertising opportunities to brands and businesses. According to Snapchat’s website, advertising products such as Sponsored Geofilters, Snapchat Lenses, or Snapchat Ads can help your business:

“Reach a highly engaged and unique audience”

“Tell your story with innovative ad products”

“Get great results to meet your objectives”

“Grow awareness and consideration”

“Drive action”

If you own a business have you thought about advertising and marketing to your customers using Snapchat? If not, it’s about time you jump on board and begin using this application.

What are Sponsored Geofilters?

Sponsored Geofilters are one easy and effective way to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness in your community using Snapchat. Geofilters are creative overlays that show what you’re doing in a Snapchat or show where you are. They are also simple to create and they are cost effective if you’re trying to pinpoint people in a specific area, during a specific time. If your business has a new product launch, an event you wish to increase awareness of, or you just want more people knowing about your business, this is definitely a product worth investing some time and money into.

Geofilters display on photos and videos in the Snapchat application based on the smartphone’s GPS coordinates while using. Having a Geofilter set up during a large local community event or place is a brilliant idea to potentially reach thousands of Snapchat users in that designated area. They’ll take photos with their friends or of the event and as they swipe through the many filters on the app, they’re bound to scroll across your fun filter and may even send it out on their photo if they like it! It is important to have a simple, fun design that works on top of photos, so be sure to follow Snapchat’s templates and guidelines as you create one that people prefer.

Are Snapchat Lenses the same thing as Filters?

Not quite, Snapchat Lenses are real-time special effects and sounds that can be added to Snapchats. Once in the app, you can tap anywhere on the screen to focus on your face. Then you’ll follow an action prompt such as “Lift your Eyebrows” and a lens will appear on your face. This is a good brand awareness opportunity for a sunglass or hat stores, because the lens could show off one of their new products and they could put their logo on the screen. A soft drink company lens could feature a can or bottle in the screen with a straw bent towards the mouth found on the face in the screen. The opportunities with lenses are growing everyday as Snapchat expands on this new advertising feature. This is a little more advanced than Sponsored Geofilters, but it’s definitely a product that will be growing exponentially on digital over the next few years as phone capabilities advance.

Why run an advertising campaign on Snapchat?

The Snapchat Ad campaigns are an innovative and intriguing method to running a digital advertising campaign in your area. Everyone these days are carrying mobile devices, and millions of people are using the Snapchat application- so why not put your ad on their phone screen? Snap Ads are 100% viewable, full screen, and have sound by default. Not to mention- these ads are something that you can create, manage and measure on the go. So what are you waiting for? Digital advertising is booming, so dive into Snapchat methods to get your name and brand in front of a diverse audience by checking out their website today.